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Friday, December 05, 2014

The former 101 KLOL show "Exposure with David Sadof" finds new home on the web with an alternative spirit

If you were in early 1990s Houston, then you might know "Exposure with David Sadof" on 101 KLOL was the spot on the radio dial to be exposed to the new wave of alternative music on the horizon. Ironically, many of the bands this alternative tastemaker played on his specialty show would eventually overtake some songs on the rest of the rock station.

Now in the Internet era, "Exposure with David Sadof" is back and debuts online today.

"Listeners of my past radio shows have been asking me to build my own digital radio station for years," Sadof told mikemcguff.com on the eve of the online station's debut.

Once again, count me in as one of those listeners. I've been sampling the station this morning and find it is what Sadof fans will want! It's everything from classic alternative to current - from The Replacements to Parquet Courts.

David Sadof & Tori Amos

The alt radio show had several FM homes after KLOL. Sadof, who had served as the KLOL music director, eventually left with the station's general manager, Pat Fant, and helped start 107.5 The Buzz (which today is at 94.5). At this point in the mid-1990s, Exposure became "Lunar Rotation." Later in in 2000s, Sadof teamed back up with Fant at 97.5 KFNC and launched "High Fidelity."

Back in the day, I would stay up late to tune into Sadof's weekend show on KLOL (and the other stations to follow) to hear the likes of Nirvana, the Red Hot Chili Peppers and the Smashing Pumpkins before they were radio darlings. While mainstream bands now, back then they were in the fringe on a Lollapalooza concert goers t-shirt. In fact, Sadof got one of the earliest recorded interviews with Pearl Jam before they were one of the world's largest bands.

"We sat down and just had a lengthy discussion about the album and even afterwards we went over to Butera's to have lunch, which was kind of funny to me," Sadof explained to me for my upcoming Rock 101 KLOL documentary. "Because two months later they had a video on MTV and they'd become so popular that couldn't have happened. They would have been mobbed. We just walked in, and you know, no one knew who they were."

But Sadof, who you couldn't beat in a game of musical trivia, played way more than the alternative platinum crowd. Houston alt lovers knew they were going deep into the genre too.

"They knew they were gonna hear things they didn't hear otherwise [on the station]," Sadof told me. "They'd hear The Jesus and Mary Chain. And they can hear Sisters of Mercy. And they can find out about bands they've never even heard of before. Bands like Fetchin Bones, or The Reivers, or you know, just really obscure bands.

"Some of the bands went on to become well-known, and others didn't. But that was really never the point of what I was doing. I really didn't care so much if something I played ended up on the station or didn't. That was never really the goal. You know, if it happened, that was fine."

That same spirit lives on today with Sadof online. It's especially great when "classic alternative" bands can't be found anywhere on the dial outside of "SiriusXM's 1st Wave," - and with this we get a mix of old and new!

Mostly music right now, Sadof tells me he will start giving information on the bands he's playing which fans have come to expect.

So don't blame me if you find your days slipping past you from listening to Sadof's alt music online world, blame him!